Simon Proctor

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Simon Proctor (born 1959) is a British composer and pianist, known for his works for unusual instruments. [1]

Contents

Education

Proctor graduated from the Royal Academy of Music where he gained the GRSM degree, LRAM diploma in piano and several prizes for composition, orchestration and piano.

Career

His best-known work, the Concerto for Serpent and Orchestra, was written in 1987 when the composer was attached to the University of South Carolina. Its premiere, with the soloist Alan Lumsden and the University of South Carolina Chamber Orchestra under Donald Portnoy, was at the First International Serpent Festival on 21 October 1989. Douglas Yeo performed it again on 31 March 1997 at New England Conservatory, and then on 29 and 30 May 1997 with the Boston Pops Orchestra conducted by John Williams, both in Boston. [2]

Other compositions include his Concerto for Keyed Bugle and Orchestra. [3] The Amherst Suite also features 8 serpents. [4] He composed a Jubilee Fanfare for the RHS Bicentennial, which was attended by the Duke of Edinburgh.[ citation needed ]

He has also composed a great number of other works, including 26 concertos, and many works for solo piano including a seven-part fugue. [1]

He composed a symphony, which included a hand bell ensemble, for the Lincoln Park Academy Orchestra in 1998. [5]

He composed a James Bond Piano Concerto. This had its world premiere on 20 February 2010 in Cadogan Hall, London. It was performed by the London Gay Symphony Orchestra. Thomas Pandolfi was the solo pianist.

Proctor is a graduate of the Royal Academy of Music. [1] He lives in Sevenoaks, Kent and teaches piano in several schools with Kent Music centre, and privately. He has performed solo piano recitals in the UK, Germany, USA and The Bahamas. Simon has played principal keyboard for Les Miserables and other shows, and has acted as musical director for other productions.[ citation needed ]

He has made two CDs of his compositions, Sounds of Kent – Piano (recorded by 12-year-old Tyler Hay), and Sounds of Kent – Woodwind (recorded by the Pneuma Quintet, a wind quintet of students from the Royal Academy of Music).[ citation needed ] A movement from his Concerto for Ophicleide and Orchestra has been recorded by Nick Byrne and David Miller. [6] In 2022 his album entitled Virtuoso Piano Works, played by Tyler Hay, was released by American Label Parma Recordings. His Serpent Concerto was recorded by Douglas Yeo on the CD Le Monde du Serpent.

Works

Concertos

Schools Musicals

Serpent

Solo Piano

Stage Works

Brass Quintent

Choral and orchestral

Flute, Piano & Percussion

Harp Trio

Orchestral

Piano Trio

String Orchestra

Wind Band

Wind Ensemble

Wood wind

Some Other Notable Works

UK Publishers

US Publishers

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References

  1. 1 2 3 Simon Proctor Archived 20 July 2008 at the Wayback Machine , Warwick Music
  2. Yeodoug.com, accessed 21 December 2009. "Douglas Yeo celebrates serpent's lure" (fee required). The Boston Globe . 23 May 1997. Retrieved 19 December 2009.
  3. Herbert, Trevor; John Wallace (1997). The Cambridge companion to brass instruments . Cambridge Companions to Music. Cambridge University Press. p.  139. ISBN   978-0-521-56522-6.
  4. "Serpent's sound makes suite music". The Times-News . 10 August 1986. Retrieved 19 December 2009.
  5. Lady Hereford, "Lincoln Park Students Will Be At Special Concert With Bells On", Palm Beach Post , 21 October 1998, p. 1B
  6. Back from Oblivion Archived 11 May 2009 at the Wayback Machine , Melba Recordings